Documenting Bullying at Your School:

Tips for School Administrators

Documenting bullying at your school is an

important element of any bullying prevention

effort. Effective documentation should include 

(1) assessing the nature and prevalence of bullying

at school, and (2) tracking suspected and confirmed

incidents of bullying among school children.

Assessing bullying at your school?

Bullying among children is aggressive behavior that is

persistent, intentional, and involves an imbalance of

power or strength.

Why is it important to assess bullying at 

your school?

• Adults often are not very accurate in predicting

the types and amount of bullying among children

and youth in school. It is important to ask

students about their experiences.

• Getting an accurate picture of the prevalence of

bullying at your school may motivate your

teachers, other staff members, parents, and

students to take action. If, for example, your

teachers perceive that bullying is a rare event at

school, it may be difficult to motivate them to

implement a bullying prevention program. If, on

the other hand, teachers see that bullying affects

many students at your school, they may be more

inclined to focus on bullying prevention.

• Understanding bullying at your school can help

you to plan strategies to address the problem. For

example, it is important to know where bullying

occurs at your school so that you can increase

adult supervision in those “hot spots.”

• Assessing bullying at different points in time can

help you to evaluate your school’s progress in

dealing with bullying.

What are good ways to assess bullying?

• It is a good idea to have students (grades three

and higher) complete a written, anonymous

questionnaire about their experiences of bullying,

being bullied, and observing bullying. Students

are likely to feel more comfortable reporting their

bullying experiences if they don’t have to include

their name or other identifying information on

the questionnaire.

• Several bullying prevention programs include a

student questionnaire as part of their materials.

Other questionnaires have been published in

research articles. Refer to the list of Bullying

Prevention Programs and the fact sheet on

Research-Based Articles and Books on

Bullying/Peer Victimization for references to

several questionnaires for students.

• In addition to surveying students, consider

inviting teachers, other school staff, and parents

to complete questionnaires about bullying at

school. Not only may it be helpful to assess

adults’ perceptions of bullying and ideas for

bullying prevention in your school, it may also be

instructive to compare adults’ perceptions of

bullying with those of your students.

• Be sure to share summaries of data with students,

parents, and school personnel.
These and other materials are available online at: www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

Tracking bullying incidents at your school

In addition to assessing the nature and prevalence

of bullying at your school, it’s also important to

continue to document suspected and confirmed

incidents of bullying. This tracking will help ensure

that children who are bullied receive protection

and support and that children who bully are held

accountable for their actions.

• To track bullying incidents effectively, adults must

be educated about bullying. Offer training for all

staff at school that will help them be more aware

of signs of bullying. 

• Develop a logical and timely reporting system

that will inform school personnel and parents of

suspected and confirmed bullying incidents. No

single system will work for all schools. 

• Some schools have developed a triplicate

incident report form for bullying and other

problem behaviors (one copy goes to the

student’s teacher, the second copy is filed in

the office, and the third copy goes to the

student’s parents).

• Other schools keep a log of bullying incidents

in the main office.

• Make sure that teachers and all school personnel

(e.g., bus drivers, school nurses, cafeteria 

workers, and custodial staff ) are familiar with 

the school’s reporting procedures and

understand their obligation to report suspected

or confirmed bullying.

• In addition to filing written reports, encourage

school personnel to share their concerns verbally

and in a timely way with colleagues (e.g., in

grade-level team meetings or one-on-one with

other staff ). If, for example, the third-period math

teacher has observed bullying among two students,

he or she should make a written report and discuss

the issue quickly with other teachers and staff to

make sure that the bullying doesn’t continue.

• Consider tracking bullying using computer

software programs. Many larger school districts

already have software programs to document

critical behavior incidents. New upgrades of these

programs and customized data fields can be used

to track bullying incidents. Some schools may

find the cost of such computer programs

prohibitive. Free computer programs (e.g.,

www.schoolcopsoftware.com) are available that

may help you analyze and map bullying and

other problem behaviors that occur in and

around your school.

• Documentation of known or suspected bullying

incidents is a critical component of an effective

bullying prevention effort. However,

documentation alone will not solve bullying

problems at school. See the fact sheet “Steps to

Address Bullying at Your School: Tips for School

Administrators” for information about how you

can implement bullying prevention programs in

your school.